The khan-queens were the ancient female rulers of the nomadic Gospodar clans of Men. The khan-queens became masters of the Lore of Ice as the first Ice Witches.
The line of Gospodar khan-queens led their people in a great exodus from their homeland in the Eastern Steppes to the northern Old World, where they would go on to found the realm of Kislev after conquering and integrating with the Ungol peoples who already called that region home.
History[]
The Gospodar people originated on the Eastern Steppes, far from their current homeland in the Old World. The expanding corruption of the Chaos Wastes into the Eastern Steppes forced the Gospodars to migrate west, abandoning their home.[2c] According to the stories of the Ice Witches, the Gospodar tribe endured all manner of attacks from the foul creatures of the Chaos Wastes, with the Chaos Gods offering to bring these assaults to a stop in exchange for the Gospodars' worship. But unlike their neighbors the Kurgan and Hung, who bowed to service of the Ruinous Powers, the Gospodars refused to submit. Instead, they turned to their own gods to protect them from the taint of the north. But even with these gods' help, the Gospodars' plight was a desperate one.[2e]
But the Gospodars' salvation came one day when a Great Spirit whispered to a Gospodar shaman-priestess. This nature spirit, called the "Ancient Widow," "Kislev," or simply "The Land," promised the shaman great power if she were to seize a distant, frozen realm where the spirit was trapped by the Chaos Gods. The shaman, desperate to help her people, agreed and the spirit granted her power over winter itself, the power of Ice Magic, the Lore of Ice. With the Ancient Widow's guidance, the shaman quickly mastered her new powers and used them to gather what she needed to fulfil her promise. Soon, she had bound the disparate Gospodar clans into a single people and placed herself above them as their first khan-queen. This done, she took her people and began her search for the Ancient Widow's homeland.[2e]
And so the khan-queens led the Gospodar on their quest to fulfil their promise to the spirit and find a new home. Generations of war and blood followed on the steppes, as the khan-queens guided their people westwards away from their former home.[2e] Over time, many Gospodar women came to wield the cold magic of the Ancient Widow, becoming known as Ice Witches.[2e][2f]
Eventually, Khan-Queen Miska led her people west of the Worlds Edge Mountains, finding a vast, snow-covered plain pulsing with the same frozen magic the spirit had taught her ancestor. Kislevite legends claim she wept frozen tears, for she realised she had found the spirit's homeland. Now the Gospodars had to seize that land to fulfill the first khan-queen's promise and claim it as their new home.[2e]
Miska led the Gospodars across High Pass in a war of conquest, driving back the native Ungols who already called the new lands home. She conquered most of the homelands of the Ancient Widow,[2c] and began construction of a new capital city on the banks of the River Urskoy which she named Kislev.[2g] However, Miska would not be the one to see the first khan-queen's promise fulfilled. She vanished into the north, claiming to have seen a vision of a terrible future where she would once again be needed to lead her people to salvation. She passed the title of khan-queen of the Gospdar to her daughter Shoika, before gathering her most trusted warriors and riding into the Chaos Wastes. She was never seen again.[2c]
The Gospodars' new khan-queen saw to the completion of the city of Kislev. The day the city was finished, Shoika discarded the ancient title of khan-queen in favor of a new one, that of tzarina of Kislev, claiming all the land north of the River Urskoy. While she was a khan-queen no longer, Shoika would be the one to fulfill the promise to the spirit by finishing her mother's conquest. The newly christened Kislevites marched west, conquering the Ungol city of Norvard and forcing them into accepting Gospodar rule. Soon the new realm of Kislev began to prosper, the khan-queens' great quest finally over as their people had found a land to call their own.[2c]
Legacy[]
While the title of "khan-queen" is long gone, the legacy of those ancient Gospodar rulers can be found in present-day day Kislev. The tzars and tzarinas of Kislev, the rulers of the nation Shoika founded, have all descended from the ancient line of the Gospodar khan-queens. This line has continued all the way to the current day with Tzarina Katarin Bokha, the greatest living practicioner of the Ice Magic the first khan-queen learned.[2b][2d]
Her great power over the ancient Lore of Ice is seen as proof that the blood of the old khan-queens still runs through her veins, and the Ungols fear and respect her as much as they do the Gospodar warrior-witches that have passed into their deepest myths. Some even say she is Miska reborn.[2b][2d]
Even today, the Ice Witches are still a major player in modern Kislev, practicing the same magic the Ancient Widow once taught the shaman-priestess who became the first kaan-queen. Noble Kislevite girls who show the talent to use magic are descended from the khan-queens, and are seen as "blessed" by those ancestors. The talent is noted as being more common amongst the Kislevite nobility.[2f] Apprentices-to-be are led into the depths of Kislev's cruelest winters, to learn the ways of the khan-queens of old.[2h]
Legends of undiscovered burial places of the ancient khan-queens have lured adventures and treasure hunters to Kislev for generations.[2a]
Notable Khan-Queens[]
- Unnamed Shaman-priestess - This unknown shamaness was granted the power of Ice Magic by the spirit known as the "Ancient Widow." She united the Gospodars under her rule as the first khan-queen.[2e]
- Anastasia - Anastasia was known for mounting the heads of her enemies on her chariot.[3a]
- Miska the Slaughterer - Miska led the Gospodars across the Worlds Edge Mountains towards what would become the lands of Kislev.[2c]
- Shoika - Shoika was the last khan-queen of the Gospodars and the first tzarina of Kislev. Shoika completed the conquest of Kislev and cast aside the title of khan-queen in favour of that of tzarina.[2c]
Canon Conflict[]
In the original Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 1st Edition lore, the origin story of the Gospodar khan-queens was somewhat different. In ages past, the tribes of fierce Human warrior horsemen rode from the east, crossed the Worlds Edge Mountains and conquered the area around the River Urskoy in Kislev. There were many such tribes, but the largest one was called the Gospodars. Many other tribes followed them, but the leaders of this horde were always Gospodars.[1a]
While they might have been barbarous and uncivilised in the eyes of other Human inhabitants of the Old World, the Gospodars were powerful warriors, and were led by a mighty khan-king called Boris Ursa. He conquered the native people, drove out the Goblins that plagued the land, and started building towns that would later become the cities of Kislev.[1a]
The khan-kings were often wizards of great power, or otherwise favoured by the gods the Gospodars worshipped. Their magic was a different kind than the Battle Magic of the southern Magisters who learned their craft from the Elves. Gospodar magicians drew their power from an older, more elemental source rooted deep in the mortal world itself. This power, called Ice Magic, is a violent, mighty force of nature itself. It is the magical manipulation of chill, frost, and the biting winds and sudden snow storms of the north.[1a]
Over the years the khan-kings and khan-queens became the tzars and tzarinas of Kislev and their power grew, especially in the female line. While not all the Overlords of the North were mages, ones like Miska the Slaughterer and Taira Pavlovna, also known as the "Queen of Blooded Peaks," were the most potent mages of their age and shaped the history of Kislev, and indeed the whole mortal world.[1a]
The so-called Khan-King Boris Ursa is from early Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 1st Edition lore. In more recent lore, the original leader of the Gospodars when they conquered Kislev was the Khan-Queen Miska.
In the Realm of the Ice Queen supplement for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition, Miska is referred to as both a descendant of the first khan-queen who unified the Gospodars[2e], as well as the first to bear the title of khan-queen.[2b] This may be a mistake on the part of the writer or it may have been left purposely up to interpretation for the sake of players and latter writers who may wish to flesh out the story of Miska. The existence of Khan-Queen Anastasia, mentioned in the Ambassador novels, supports the interpretation that Miska was the lastest of a line of Khan-Queens.[3a]